Trial begins for homeless man accused of stabbing 14-year-old boy to death in Palm Beach County

WEST PALM BEACH — The murder trial began Thursday for Semmie Lee Williams Jr., a homeless man accused of randomly stabbing a 14-year-old boy to death while he was taking an after-school bike ride four years ago.

Ryan Rogers, a freshman at William T. Dwyer, left the home he shared with his mother and younger brother a little before 7 p.m. the night of Nov. 15, 2021. His body was found, by his bike, in a wooded area by the Interstate 95 overpass in Palm Beach Gardens the next morning. In the initial confusion, police thought Rogers had been killed in a bike accident.

But an autopsy revealed that he had been stabbed repeatedly in the head, while DNA, surveillance footage and cellphone data connected Williams, 43, to the scene. Officers arrested him in Miami two weeks later on charges of first-degree murder with a weapon.

Now, a Palm Beach County jury will decide if he is guilty.

Williams, who has an IQ of below 60 and is diagnosed with schizophrenia, had originally entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. He had suspicions that he was being “gang stalked” or followed by groups connected to the KKK and the Illuminati as part of a national conspiracy, and that he had been kidnapped and implanted with electric chips, among other beliefs, according to his defense team. Still, doctors declared he was competent to stand trial.

Then, on the eve of the trial, Williams revoked his insanity plea, changing his plea to a simple plea of not guilty. He also sought to fire his attorneys, who were appointed from the Public Defender’s Office, then changed his mind after discussing with them.

‘Over and over and over’

On Thursday morning, prosecutors argued that Williams deliberately and repeatedly stabbed Rogers to death in a random, but premeditated attack, while his public defenders said that he came upon an unconscious Williams in the dark but did not kill him.

“This defendant decided to randomly attack him and end his life with no legal justification,” Assistant State Attorney Richard Clausi said in his opening statement. “Ryan is dead. He’s dead because of this defendant. This defendant thought about it and he did it, over and over and over, and he did it with a weapon.”

Clausi focused on the evidence linking Williams to the scene and to murder: the autopsy showing repeated stab wounds; nail clippings of Rogers, with Williams’ DNA in them; headphones, found tangled in Rogers’ bike, also with Williams’ DNA; and a bloody bandana, found in Williams’ backpack.

Williams’ defense attorneys, meanwhile, focused on his argument that he was being “gang stalked.” In her opening statement, Assistant Public Defender Stephanie Gagerie described Williams as “targeted, tracked, and tormented” by groups including law enforcement. She did not mention anything about Williams’ mental health status.

“Mr. Williams lived the majority of his life being gang stalked,” she said, adding, “he moved from state to state, from city to city, looking for a place of seclusion, a place of rest.”

On the night of Rogers’ death, Gagerie said, Williams took the Tri-Rail and got off at the last stop. He headed north, into a wooded area by the Palm Beach Gardens I-95 overpass and saw an unconscious person in the dark, she said, but was unable to see his injuries or realize that the victim was a child.

“Mr. Williams left that area,” she said, “looking for a place of solitude and seclusion which he never found.”

Rogers’ mother, Cynthia, took the stand briefly Thursday as prosecutors asked her to recount the night her teenage son didn’t come home, how she drove around looking for him before calling the police, and, by 3 a.m., posting in her community Facebook page.

When prosecutors asked her if her son went for a bike ride on Nov. 15, 2021, she sobbed.

“Yes,” she said.

Williams’ problems with his attorneys also continued into Thursday. Judge Cymonie Rowe told him that he needed to let his attorneys speak for him now that the trial has commenced, but Williams said that he didn’t trust them.

If convicted, Williams faces a mandatory life sentence.

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